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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29176290">So when I looked in the mirror, I’d see someone worthwhile</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/silvermoongirl10/pseuds/silvermoongirl10'>silvermoongirl10</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The difference between victory and defeat [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Both Echo and Fives get a hug, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo &amp; CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives are Twins, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo Needs a Hug, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives Needs a Hug, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives is a Good Bro, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo, Hurt/Comfort, Protective CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:35:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,213</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29176290</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/silvermoongirl10/pseuds/silvermoongirl10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>'The atmosphere had been tense since the team of three landed on Kreeling. It left Echo constantly scanning the area, his helmet hiding his worried expression. It was only because Echo knew Reeft and Rem so well, that he was able to tell they were worried. They could sense things in the Force he couldn’t, but the tense line of their shoulders set Echo on edge. He hadn’t felt this way since the war and it was scaring him.'</p><p>A mission for Echo goes wrong.</p><p>(Set 9 years after the Clone Wars.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo &amp; CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo &amp; Original Child Character(s), CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives &amp; Original Child Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The difference between victory and defeat [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065761</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>So when I looked in the mirror, I’d see someone worthwhile</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>There will be two more stories in this series. One will be set after this story and the other will be set during the Clone Wars.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Temple corridors were bustling as beings travelled to places they needed to go. Echo smiled and nodded at those he passed, his seven-year-old daughter Annileen in his arms. Annileen was resting her head on his shoulder, he had purposefully not put his armour on before his departure knowing Annileen always liked him to carry her to the Temple hanger so she could say goodbye to him. Although, he did wander when his daughter grew bigger, if she would still insist on him carrying her.</p><p>Once they reached the hanger they were met by Fives, who had just finished his shift with Temple security, ready to look after Annileen once Echo left on his mission. “Buir, where are you going again?” asked Annileen.</p><p>Echo titled his head so he could look at his daughter, smiling as he swept away wisps of long, black hair out of her face. “I’m going to Kreeling An’ika. It is in the Mid-Rim.” Annileen nodded, thankfully not noticing Fives’s grimace.</p><p>While Fives no longer got worked up about him going on missions, which was a good thing considering Echo had been mission partners with Reeft for nine years. Fives still got worried when Echo’s mission had the potential to go wrong. Which the mission to Kreeling definitely had the potential to do.</p><p>Noticing Reeft and Rem entering the hanger, Echo gently set Annileen on her feet. “Go and say goodbye to Reeft and Rem An’ika.”</p><p>“Okay!” chirped Annileen with a wide smile. She turned, her elbow length hair swinging with her movement. She was very close with Reeft and Rem, who she had known her entire life, and who both had the reputation of spoiling Annileen with treats.</p><p>Hearing a worried sigh, Echo turned to his twin and immediately brought Fives in for a hug. “I’ll be careful,” he promised in a murmur to Fives.</p><p>Fives’s arms tightened around him. “I know you will. It’s the humans on Kreeling that worry me.”</p><p>Echo sighed in response, there was nothing he could really say. Peace on Kreeling was on a knife edge, he, Reeft and Rem were going to try and restore order. But there was one faction who were determined to overthrow the government by stopping the planet’s election and their mission was to try and make sure the election went on ahead. This was probably the most serious mission he had gone on with Reeft, sure others had put them in harms way. But this mission had the potential to lead to war if it went wrong. And the Jedi had been working so hard to ensure no more wars broke out after the end of the Clone Wars. Echo didn’t want to see all that hard work wasted within nine years all because some people decided they wanted to gain power.</p><p>Stepping back out of his hug with Fives, Echo put his bag on the floor and started attaching the plates of his armour onto his body. Chuckling to himself at the blank helmet, Annileen had gotten attached to his and as his ARC helmet was her latest obsession, he wasn’t allowed to take it on missions with him. He had a very cute holo picture of Annileen wearing his too big helmet on her head.</p><p>As he pieced together his armour, he looked up and watched as Fives’s expression tightened with every plate attached. He noticed Fives flinch when Annileen’s bright laughter rang out across the hanger. Echo reached out and squeezed his twin’s arm comfortingly, “I’ll come back.”</p><p>“You’d better,” threatened Fives, his brown eyes burning. Echo felt himself tugged into another tight hug. “Your daughter and I need you back here.” Echo rested his forehead against Fives’s until he pulled himself away and turned towards his daughter.</p><p>Annileen, who had not sensed their unease, bounded towards Echo and launched herself into his arms. “Buir! I’m going to miss you lots and <em>lots</em>. But I know other beings need your help, but don’t stay away <em>too long</em> okay?”</p><p>“I promise not to be gone too long,” promised Echo with a soft smile. He gently tugged Annileen closer and kissed his daughter on her forehead, with one more squeeze he was standing up, his helmet tucked under his arm. “Be good for your ba’vodu An’ika.”</p><p>“I will!” replied Annileen with a smile and a wave. Causing Echo to smile as he watched as Annileen tucked herself against Fives’s side. His older brother resting a hand on her shoulders, the brothers shared a look and a nod. Unspoken promises passed between them. Fives promising to look after Annileen. Echo promising to come back.</p><hr/><p>The atmosphere had been tense since the team of three landed on Kreeling. It left Echo constantly scanning the area, his helmet hiding his worried expression. It was only because Echo knew Reeft and Rem so well, that he was able to tell they were worried. They could sense things in the Force he couldn’t, but the tense line of their shoulders set Echo on edge. He hadn’t felt this way since the war and it was scaring him.</p><p>There was supposed to peace, there wasn’t supposed to be anymore wars to fight. And yet he came across humans on Kreeling who were eager for a fight. People on <em>both </em>sides. There was the faction who wanted to take control of the planet, and there was the other side of the argument, the ones who wanted the elections to take place. Both sides as bad as each other in Echo’s opinion. Both sides only really used the situation as an excuse to fight.</p><p>He heard some people mumble excitedly that they were finally going to be able to fight for what they believed in. Saying how jealous they were of Echo, he who got to fight in the Clone Wars nine years ago. It was enough to turn his stomach. Here were these people <em>wanting </em>to fight. Jealous of <em>him</em>. Whereas he had <em>no choice</em>. He had been created to fight in the war, he had no say on the matter. Designed to age quicker, so he’d be able to get into the fighting sooner. No thought about what he might want to do with his life, no thought about the family he or his brothers might want. No consideration for him as a sentient being. Yet these people were <em>jealous</em>. Where were they when the war against the Separatists needed to be fought? Probably content to let him and his brothers fight and die for their cause.</p><p>Echo had to turn away and voluntarily go on patrols alone, he just couldn’t <em>stand</em> being near those people anymore. Reeft would give him understanding looks and just let him go. Something Echo was thankful for; he didn’t know if he would be able to explain his thoughts to his friend. He was just glad he didn’t have to. Rem tried ending conversations about fighting, understanding that the conversations made Echo feel uncomfortable. The eighteen-year-old ruthless in cutting people off, very adept at changing the subject.</p><hr/><p>The day finally came for the election and Echo was <em>relieved</em>. They had been on the planet for four days, four days too many. The sooner he could get off this Force-forsaken planet the better. He was stood in the city square, across the square from the election building. His blaster resting on his forearm, at the ready to be fired if necessary. As his gaze flittered across the square and the queue of people lining up to cast their vote, Echo shook his head with a frown. He and Reeft had argued having so many people lined up outside. If they were innocents, they were in the firing line. If they were with the enemy faction, then they were a security risk. But the government refused to listen. Sure, they knew more than Reeft and Echo. Two beings who had plenty of experience with tense situations like this. Echo ground his teeth together in frustration.</p><p>With his armour on and blaster at the ready, Echo found he was having to push back memories of the war. The memories of his brothers fighting and dying together, the screams of the wounded and the smell of blaster fire. Echo’s breathing quickened and he shook his head. At a time when he could really do with Fives standing at his side, his brother was systems away. Echo smiled to himself, wondering if Annileen had roped Fives and Rex into another tea party with her stuffed animals. If she had, he really hoped Cody had been able to take holo pictures.</p><p>Instantly Echo’s attention was drawn to a figure running across the square. None of the natives to Kreeling batted an eye, but Echo knew something was wrong.</p><p>He lifted his commlink and called his mission partner. “Reeft! Something is happening! I don’t know what, but something is wrong!” Just as he heard Reeft about to reply a loud explosion ripped through the air.</p><p>Echo watched in horror as the two buildings either side of the election building burst into flames. The orange and red flames twisting up into the air, pieces of rubble being launched across the square. It all happened in seconds. Before Echo could do anything, he felt himself pushed back by the blasts.</p><p>His blaster was ripped out of his grasp and he was thrown into another building.</p><p>His helmet clad head smacking against the brick wall.</p><p>His body was screaming in pain.</p><p>But then he knew nothing but darkness.</p><hr/><p>Fives felt his eyes sting with tears as he lowered himself into a chair. He looked at the battered figure on the medical bed and couldn’t comprehend the figure was his twin. Healer Corra had assured him Echo would heal; he would get better. But he’d had to be put in a bacta tank for three days. The Healers on Kreeling had had to re-start his heart once. Both of Echo’s legs had been broken and he had several cracked ribs with fallen debris landing on him. His body was littered with wounds ranging from small cuts to serious wounds that if Reeft hadn’t acted so quickly about, Echo could have bled out. He had a severe concussion, his helmet was cracked and ruined. At the back of his mind Fives thought it was lucky Annileen wanted to have Echo’s otherwise his twin would be cursing about losing his helmet.</p><p>He pushed one of his hands against his face as he took a deep breath. Annileen was currently staying with Cody, Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan’s Padawan Ranna, the three of them trying to keep her mind off Echo. She knew her buir was hurt and in the Halls of Healing, but everyone had agreed she was too young to know about the extent of Echo’s injuries. So, the decision had been made to keep her away from the Halls until Echo was conscious.</p><p>Dropping his hand, Fives looked at the unconscious form of his little brother. Being in the bacta tank had healed his legs, ribs and concussion, just Healer Corra was keeping him under sedation for another day to allow Echo’s body to recover from the shock it had suffered.</p><p>Slowly Fives reached out a shaky hand and gently grasped Echo’s hand, his eyes locked onto the slack and pale face of his twin. “When you promised to come back. I meant for you to come back in one piece. Not like <em>this</em>,” cried Fives, the tears he had tried to hold back streaming down his face as his shoulders shook with the strength of his sobs.</p><p>He didn’t think he would ever forget the sight of his little brother being carried off the starship on a stretcher, bacta patches, bandages and casts covering his body. Rex was the only reason he had remained standing; his knees had buckled as Echo’s stretcher was directed past him.</p><p>A soft keening sound made him jump, then he realised he was the one who made the sound. He let himself drift forwards until his head was resting on the medical bed beside Echo’s abdomen. He pillowed his head on one arm and slung his other arm over Echo’s stomach and just watched his brother. Against his will, his eyes slipped closed as sleep claimed him.</p><hr/><p>As awareness slowly came back to Echo, his eyes were still closed as they felt heavy. But as every achy limb made itself known; he became aware of a small, warm weight across his stomach. Wondering what the weight was made Echo fight to wake himself up, as his eyes blinked open, he winced at the dim lighting of the room. With some effort he tilted his head to the side and found the weight across his stomach belonged to Fives’s arm. His twin was asleep, his head pillowed on his other arm with his hand resting on top of Echo’s. He felt his lips twitch upwards in a smile, despite remembering the explosion that had obviously injured him enough to be transported back to the Temple unconscious, he was glad to have his twin by his side.</p><p>His body felt stiff and weak, but he drew enough strength to turn his hand, covered by Fives’s hand, upside down so he was able to weakly squeeze Fives’s hand. The result was instantaneous. As soon as he had squeezed Fives’s hand, his twin was shooting upwards in his chair, his black hair in disarray, his brown eyes wide as they looked at the medical equipment at his bedside. Fives frowned, obviously wondering what had woken him up. Then his gaze landed on Echo’s face, he watched as it dawned on Fives that he was awake.</p><p>“<em>Eyayah</em>,” breathed Fives, his eyes wide and wet with tears. Echo watched as Fives brought his hands up to rest on either side of his face.</p><p>“Fives,” he mumbled, his voice hoarse and really nothing more than a rasp.</p><p>“Vod’ika…<em>never</em> scare me like that again!” ordered Fives, his voice shaking.</p><p>Echo slowly nodded, “I’m sorry…” his voice drifted away at Fives shaking his head.</p><p>“Don’t apologise. You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re the one…who…” Fives’s voice cut off as his dipped his head, something Echo knew his brother always did to compose himself. Fives then lifted his head, tears slipped down his cheeks as he added, “you were the one who fought to come back. Don’t <em>ever</em> apologise for that.”</p><hr/><p>After another day in the Halls, Echo was finally allowed back to their quarters, he had to use a hoverchair, but he didn’t care as long as he could go <em>home</em>. After he had adopted Annileen they had moved quarters, to allow for an extra bedroom for Annileen, so their quarters were higher up in the Temple, the reason why he wasn’t allowed to walk home.</p><p>Fives had opened the front door and pushed his chair into the quarters, Echo had instantly opened his arms and Annileen threw herself out of Cody’s arms and gently situated herself on his lap. Echo had cuddled his daughter against him, taking comfort from his daughter’s presence. He had looked up and found a sea of relieved and smiling faces. Cody, Obi-Wan, Ranna, Anakin, Reeft, Rem, Rex, Jesse and Kix all said how glad they were to see him on the mend. Their visit was cut short when Echo started to yawn, he tried to tell them to stay, feeling bad that he was basically forcing his friends and brothers to leave. But they all assured him they would be back to see him later once he had gotten some rest.</p><p>His twin had helped him get comfortable in his bed, Fives had sat on the edge of the bed while Annileen came to read him a story, a reversal of her bedtime routine. Echo knew he had fallen asleep with a smile on his face, surrounded by his older brother and his daughter.</p><p>Within a few weeks he was given permission to start exercising again. Echo had gone to Healer Corra to ask about what he needed to do to be medically approved to start going on missions again. If he thought he could keep that hidden from his brother, he was very mistaken. Somehow Fives had found out about his plan and while he was in one of the smaller training salles used by his brothers, he was cornered by his twin. A twin who was furious.</p><hr/><p>Unbridled fury was pumping through Fives’s veins. Kix had told him about how much of a good sign it was that Echo had been asking Healer Corra about what he needed to do to be cleared for missions again. Fives disagreed. No. It was <em>not</em> a good thing. Echo had almost been killed on Kreeling, and yes, it was the only time he had been seriously hurt in nine years of going on missions but I had been <em>too close</em>. And there wasn’t just Fives who would be left behind if Echo died, there was Annileen. A little girl who needed her buir.</p><p>With gritted teeth, he had asked Kix where he would find his twin and once he got his answer he marched through the Temple. Jedi were giving him wary looks, telling him his anger was seeping into the Force around him. He normally would try and make sure his feelings were not seeping into the Force, knowing his feelings could unsettle Jedi, especially the younglings. But today he wasn’t even trying not to broadcast his feelings. He needed to talk some sense into his <em>di’kut</em> of a brother.</p><p>He found Echo doing some of the Jedi katas Reeft had been showing him, something to help him stretch out his muscles. As his gaze locked onto his brother, he didn’t see the other brothers who looked between the Domino twins and immediately escaped the room.</p><p>Echo looked up confused at the sudden exit of his brothers and then saw his twin. Fives took a small amount of glee at the wary expression on Echo’s face. <em>Good</em>, he thought.</p><p>“So…you heard then,” stated Echo as he stood up to his full height.</p><p>“Yeah. I <em>heard</em>. Not from you though,” snapped Fives.</p><p>“I knew you’d react…well…like <em>this</em>,” replied Echo, his voice measured and calm as he gestured at Fives.</p><p>“Is there any wonder <em>why</em> I am reacting like <em>this?</em>” spat Fives as he marched across the wooden floor towards his twin. “Are you determined to get yourself <em>killed?</em>”</p><p>Echo pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Something that made Fives’s anger rise even more, Echo was acting like <em>Fives</em> was the one being unreasonable. “Fives. I’ve been going on missions for nine years. This is the only time I’ve gotten seriously hurt.”</p><p>“Seriously hurt? You’re talking like that doesn’t <em>mean anything!</em>” Fives yelled, his voice bouncing off the walls to echo in the room. “The Healers on Kreeling had to <em>restart your heart!</em> You could have <em>died!</em>”</p><p>“But I didn’t!” countered Echo, his expression morphing into one of anger. “And it is <em>my choice</em> if I go on missions!”</p><p>“What about Annileen! Aren’t you going to think about her? Yes. I’m here to help you look after her, but I’m her ba’vodu, you are her <em>buir</em>. She needs <em>you!</em>” snapped Fives as he got close into Echo’s face.</p><p>Echo shoved Fives back a step. “Don’t you <em>dare</em> say that! Like I don’t care about her!”</p><p>“Then don’t go rushing out of the door to get yourself <em>killed!</em>” Fives heard his voice raise again and at the back of his mind he knew shouting wasn’t going to convince Echo. If anything, it was only going to make Echo more stubborn and not back down. But Fives was too angry to think about the situation rationally.</p><p>“I am <em>not</em> rushing out the door to get myself killed!” shouted Echo, his stance tense, as if he was readying himself to fight Fives.</p><p>Before Fives could respond, verbally or physically. Rex was suddenly between them, pushing them apart from each other. “That is <em>enough</em>,” he ordered, a sharp glare directed at both of them.</p><p>Fives shook off Rex’s hand. “<em>You</em> try talking some sense into the di’kut.” He then turned and marched out of the room, pushing his way through the crowd of brothers he had not realised had witnessed his argument with Echo.</p><p>Without looking back, he heard Echo also leave the room, as he turned down the corridor, hearing Echo go in the opposite direction. He heard Rex telling their brothers that everything would be fine, and Fives and Echo would sort themselves out and would soon be talking to each other again.</p><hr/><p>While Rex may have been confident in his words to his worried brothers. It turned out; he was in fact wrong.</p><p>Fives and Echo didn’t speak to each other for three days.</p><p>If it hadn’t been something to worry about, Rex would have been impressed. Two people living in the same quarters with a seven-year-old child to look after between them not talking for three whole days was quite the feat.</p><p>But it <em>was</em> something to worry about.</p><p>Fives was adamant Echo should not go on missions anymore.</p><p>Echo was adamant he <em>was</em> going to go back on missions.</p><p>It was a stalemate. One Rex wished wasn’t needed at all.</p><hr/><p>Fives peaked through the crack his slightly open bedroom door made and looked at his twin and niece as they lay on the sofa. Annileen was lying on Echo’s chest, slightly twisted so she could look up at her father. Echo was playing with Annileen’s hair, by continuously sweeping strands of black hair away from her face.</p><p>“Buir. Why do you want to go on missions far away?” asked Annileen as she traced her fingers over Echo’s tunic.</p><p>Echo paused and then directed a small smile at Annileen. “I’ve always wanted to help people and in away make myself feel worthy.”</p><p>“Why wouldn’t you be worthy?” frowned Annileen, her voice pitching in confusion causing Fives to smile to himself. Annileen’s hero was her father and she looked up at him as if he was the one to hang up all the stars in the galaxy.</p><p>“I lost a lot of brothers in the war. And I never understood why I lived and they didn’t.” Confessed Echo, his voice quiet, Fives only just able to catch what he said. Fives’s chest tightened at his twin’s words. Vividly remembering after they had lost Hevy, Cutup and Droidbait on the Rishi moon outpost how Echo was convinced he should have died in their brothers’ place.</p><p>Annileen sat up straighter on Echo’s lap and leaned against his chest, her hands coming to rest on his shoulders. “From the stories you and ba’vodu Fives have told me. I don’t think your brothers would be upset you lived. They’d be upset to hear you were hurt though. I don’t like you being hurt.”</p><p>Fives watched as Echo’s face crumpled until his twin hid his face from view by burying his face in Annileen’s black hair. With sudden clarity Fives realised why Echo was so determined to go back to going on missions. Even all these years later Echo still felt like he had something to prove. Fives stepped back into his bedroom, knowing he had to talk to Echo, but right now wasn’t the right time.</p><hr/><p>Echo took a deep breath to try and calm himself. Annileen was at her lessons with the other Initiates she joined when they weren’t doing Force related lessons and Fives was somewhere in the Temple. Echo had come to the Room of a Thousand Fountains just to try and get some breathing space.</p><p>Reeft had started to suggest that perhaps Fives was right, and he should retire from active missions, at least while Annileen was growing up. While Cody and Rex didn’t say anything either way, he knew they didn’t <em>really</em> want him going on missions again, considering how badly hurt he got, but he knew they wouldn’t say it because they went on missions with Jedi themselves. Fives wasn’t talking to him, which, in a way, was worse than if Fives had been pleading with him not to go on missions anymore. Annileen was trying to act as if everything was normal, but it wasn’t. Her father and uncle were fighting and not speaking to each other, something she had never seen her entire life.</p><p>It was all just one big mess.</p><p>He sighed as he sat cross legged on the soft grass and rested his face in his hands.</p><p>“I see you’re feeling the same as me.”</p><p>Echo looked up at the voice and found Fives standing a few feet in front of him. A biting comment was on the tip of his tongue. But he kept his mouth shut when he saw the wary look in Fives’s brown eyes, the slump to his shoulders and the pained expression on his face. So, Echo just shrugged his shoulders and looked down at his feet as he began to tear bits of grass from the earth with his hands.</p><p>He jumped when Fives came to sit in front of him and covered Echo’s hands with his own. “Ey’ika.”</p><p>Echo slowly looked up at his twin’s face, taking in the slight smile on his brother’s face. “What do you want from me?” he whispered desperately. Anger he could do. Disappointment he could do. Ignoring each other he could do. What he couldn’t face was the deep understanding on Fives’s face. He began to squirm as Fives fixed him with a soft look, a look that suggested he knew Echo’s deepest secrets, which he probably did to be honest.</p><p>“I want you to tell me why you still feel like you have something to prove,” stated Fives softly, as one hand came up to cup the back of Echo’s head.</p><p>“I…I…I don’t…” choked Echo, shaking his head. He couldn’t <em>do this</em>, Echo was supposed to be over this, he <em>should</em> have been over this.</p><p>“Eyayah,” soothed Fives as he came to rest their foreheads against each other. “I <em>know</em> you. And while it’s taken me a few days to figure out your desperation to go back on missions. I now <em>understand</em>.” Fives then took a deep breath and smiled softly at Echo, despite the sheen in his brown eyes. “I love you so much vod’ika and I could not bear it if I lost you. And I had hoped that you would have learnt to see what An’ika and I see when we look at you. You have <em>nothing</em> to prove to anyone. The only one you are trying to prove something to is <em>yourself</em>.”</p><p>Echo grasped Fives’s wrists and sucked in a shuddering breath. “I just…sometimes I still feel like I could do <em>more</em>. That I’m not doing enough with my life. So many of our brothers died and I am still questioning why <em>I </em>got to live. Why <em>I</em> got to adopt an amazing daughter and why <em>I</em> get to work with a Jedi I now can call a best friend. I just <em>don’t get it</em>.”</p><p>“There’s nothing ‘to get’, we survived and our brothers would want us to <em>live</em> our lives, not spend them trying to make their sacrifices worth it,” murmured Fives as he tugged Echo forward so they were hugging and Echo’s head rested against his shoulder.</p><p>“I know no one wants me to go out on missions anymore,” confessed Echo quietly, his fingers gripping Fives’s tunic.</p><p>“<em>That</em> is because we call care about you. It is <em>not</em> us thinking you aren’t good enough anymore,” stated Fives firmly. And that was the crux of the matter. Deep in his mind, Echo had been thinking everyone he cared about thought he was useless and a risk to take out on missions. Fives tightened the hug. “We just don’t want to lose you.”</p><p>Echo nodded, he understood and he did. He just knew he was going to have to be reminded of that a lot. “But am I going to <em>do?</em>” he asked. He remembered how adrift he felt in the months after the war, how working with Temple Security wasn’t enough for him and he didn’t want to go back to feeling like that.</p><p>Fives leaned back to smile at him. “Well, it’s funny you should ask that. I didn’t have <em>anything</em> to do with this. But one of the Masters in charge of overseeing the subjects and lessons for Padawans, came and asked me if you would consider teaching technical skills to the Padawans. The Master had heard about the datapad you designed in the war and thought the skills you have would be very beneficial for Padawans to learn.”</p><p>Thinking to himself, Echo began to smile. Yes, he would miss the adrenaline and satisfaction of helping beings on missions. But Fives was right, at least for Annileen’s sake, he needed to stay in Temple and watch her grow, and teaching would keep his mind busy. And by passing on his technical skills, he would still be helping other beings. The Padawans he would teach would go on and use those skills on their own missions.</p><p>Nodding he grinned at Fives. “I think that sounds like a great idea.”</p><hr/><p>Within two weeks he was given a timetable and five classes of Padawans to teach. Echo thought he might feel overwhelmed, but actually he was enjoying teaching. He still saw Reeft and Rem when they were in the Temple, Rem was actually in one of his classes. He presumed she was there because she needed the assessment proof, she could use her technical skills, because in the seven years he had worked with her and Reeft, he had already been teaching Rem everything he new about tech.</p><p>On his first lesson, he had looked at the back of the classroom and rolled his eyes seeing Fives, Rex, Cody, Jesse and Kix all beaming at him from their seats in the back row. He chuckled to himself throughout the lesson when Kix, Jesse and Fives began to look a little lost at his explanations. So, he wasn’t surprised when only Rex and Cody returned to the class. When he asked them why they kept coming back, they both said they thought the skills would come in useful as Rex went on missions with Anakin and Cody went on missions with Obi-Wan and his Padawan. When Echo reminded Cody that Ranna was attending his class but with another group, Cody just shrugged and said he couldn’t let his husband’s Padawan know more about a subject than him. So, Echo shrugged but did make sure both Rex and Cody completed their homework and the class assessment test.</p><p>Echo did have to admit he did enjoy being in the Temple and got to spend even more time with his daughter which was always a highlight of his day. He was currently watching as Obi-Wan’s friend, Bant, was teaching Annileen and the Skywalker twins how to swim in the Room of a Thousand Fountains. He was sat leaning back on his hands on the grass with a smile on his face.</p><p>Fives was sat beside him and knocked their shoulders together. “Everything alright?”</p><p>“Couldn’t be better,” replied Echo honestly.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Vod’ika – little brother<br/>Buir – father<br/>Ba’vodu – uncle<br/>Di'kut - idiot<br/>An’ika – term of endearment of Annileen’s name. Little Annileen.<br/>Eyayah - Echo's Mando'a name.<br/>Ey'ika - term of endearment of Echo's Mando'a name. Little Echo.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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